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A company at the centre of a multimillion-dollar fight between a public relations boss and her property developer ex-husband is being wound up at the behest of Inland Revenue.

The firm, CIT Holdings, owns a 1ha group of Auckland properties that are ensnared in a persistent wrangle between Sarah Sparks and Greg Olliver, who split up in 2012.

Some of the land in the upmarket suburb of St Heliers was destined for luxury apartments, but has remained an empty eyesore for years, after the development was stymied.

One valuation - albeit some three years out of date - put the properties' worth at about $11 million, while another reckons they would sell for close to $17 million. Which figure is closer to the mark may be known sooner rather than later, with the Bank of New Zealand attempting to sell the properties to recover more than $10 million it is owed.

One of Spark's companies has caveats over all nine properties and though it had agreed to the sale process for five, it challenged the bank over the sale of the other four. Though this objection was dismissed shortly before Christmas, the company is appealing and trying to halt BNZ from taking any further action.

Enter the tax department, which this month was successful in its High Court bid to put Olliver's CIT Holdings into liquidation.

Though IRD has yet to file a claim with liquidator Vivian Fatupaito, the judgment debt in the High Court was around $550,000.

Business Insider has been told the liquidation is unlikely to stop BNZ from trying to sell the properties, but will put Inland Revenue ahead of other creditors - including a trust associated with Sparks.

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The ex-New Zealand Wine Company chief executive is now free to head along to Eden Park for the rest of this season - or even to any overseas fixtures - after collecting his passport from the High Court on Wednesday, when Business Insider bumped into him.

Though not lingering to chew the fat on his first day of freedom, Scutts made was less than complimentary about the Serious Fraud Office, which successfully prosecuted him last year on 16 charges of dishonestly using a document and one charge of receiving secret reward for procuring contracts.

Scutts was found to have struck an agreement in which Australia's Liquor Marketing Group would pay him A$1 for every supplied case of wine they sold, which established a secret commissions offence.

Someone breaks the law if they advise a person to enter into a contract with a third party and receive or agree to receive a gift or reward from that third party without the original person's consent or knowledge.

Though some people lose all their friends when convicted, Scutts provided references during his sentencing from luminaries such as All Blacks coach Sir Graham Henry, broadcaster Murray Deaker, businessman and former Olympic rower Sir Peter Masfen and high-profile businessman Michael Stiassny.